Unedited.
Target:220 votes.
"God! This girl." Mom sighed while reading out the sticky note that was glued to the refrigerator.
Athayya,
Got an emergency case to deal with. So I have to leave. Don't worry. I will grab something to eat once I got free. Take care.
These were her usual excuses. She would leave early and return late or sometimes she would even stay in the hospital.
Though I was out of the house most of the time, thanks to the ramblings of my mom, I would always get to know all these things related to her.
Why was she doing this? Was it because of what I had asked her? So she was staying away from the house in the disguise of the work?
The only reason I had asked her to do it was, I really didn't want to reopen my dad's old wounds. For a man who was so proud, that incident was a black mark in his life and every time he sees her, he would be reminded of that thing.
So I really didn't want him to get hurt again. Though I asked her to stay away, never had I excepted that she would come up with this kind of resort.
On the day where she wanted to resume her work, I saw her hailing the cab after lying on my face that Daksha would come to pick her up.
Why was she doing all these? From her actions, I could sense that she didn't want to bother anyone of us in the home. This was her real nature or that's what I thought to be, before her deception. She never let herself to be a burden on someone. Such a kind of headstrong girl she was.
I thought I knew her too well until I heard her proudly declaring her deeds on that day of our marriage.
Marriage! This word is hitting me with a different feel. I am married. I have to remind myself of this thing daily because it feels so surreal.
And on the day I saw her sleeping so peacefully in my room, so many thoughts flooded my mind. I, for a second, felt so selfish and almost thought to give this relationship a chance.
Overwhelmed with my thoughts, I even hugged her, hoping for a magical moment to happen to turn everything between us into normal. That was when reality hit me hard. I left her immediately when I was reminded of her motive behind marrying me.
She considered me as a tool, a means to secure whatever god damn property she owned. She has just used me. How could I even probably digest that fact? Even if I want to give this relationship a chance and would try to forget everything, how could I probably do it when I knew who she has in her heart?
So it's better for both of us if we should stay like this. I probably may never get over this thing because I am a very proud man and never got played in anyone's hand but she outdid herself.
She always makes me question my abilities. I was always thought I was good at judging people but why didn't I ever notice her hideous nature? Is she that skilled or am I just misunderstanding something? Who is the real her? Ms. Prim & proper I have always known or the one who behaved like an insensitive being?
What should I believe? The words from her mouth or the eyes which would portray the emotion opposite to what she says? What the hell is happening around me? Such a mess. My life has become a mess and the very same person who was the reason for this mess was messing up with my mind too.
" Indra, don't think about her now," I told myself and put the halt to my thoughts as I caught the look on my dad's face.
He was frowning while thinking about something and looked at my mom, opening his mouth to say something but didn't utter anything and calmly left for his office after wasting his hand.
As for my mom, she was sighing like a worried mom, still fretting over the fact she left the house again without having breakfast.
"Mom, I am leaving," I told her and was about to leave the place silently when she stopped me from doing so.
"Wait, Indra. Look at me." And when I did so, she sized me up from sideways and said in a duh tone, "Don't forget to have look at yourself daily In the mirror from now on."
I frowned at her words and questioned the same.
"Because you may miss one or two limbs of yours in the coming future."
"God! What are you saying ma?" I was getting annoyed at her weird choice of words and the logic behind them.
She just rolled her eyes at me and stood up from her chair before marching towards me. "Just pray that I would never catch a whiff of anything that you do to hurt her because if I do, I will forget that you are my son and will break your legs. Got it?"
And when I looked at her with a frown, without responding anything, she twisted my ears as I painfully scrunched my eyebrows.
"Say it loud. Did you get it?" She asked me again, applying even more pressure.
"Damn, I got it," I uttered while gritting my teeth.
"Good boy. Now shoo away." She waved her hands at me as I glanced around the living room, checking whether anyone had witnessed this embarrassing moment of mine.
Without looking back, I stormed out and got into my jeep. The first I did after getting in was, examining my ear in the side mirrors and grumbled under my breath.
As I was about to give life to the engine, I received a call from Hari. Attending it, I heard his voice as I could sense the chaos in the background.
"What happened?" I asked him in my usual stern voice, getting into my professional mode.
"Sir, we need you here. We found the dead body of one of the prime suspects of our recent drug deal case that we are dealing with but ACP Ramesh is not letting us carry our duties."
I hissed in annoyance at the sudden mention of that annoying human and asked him to send me the live location. As he did it, I wore my goggles and started driving to the location.
Once I reached there, I examined the surroundings and starting marching towards the place where they had been marked as a restricted area.
"Tsk Tsk, when did the west zone's ACP started interfering with the casualties in my zone?" I heard the sarcastic voice as I was about to step in. Without bothering to reply to him, I gestured for Hari to bring me the gloves.
"Indra, stop there. It's my zone. I will deal with it. You should stop poking your nose into every damn thing."
Ignoring his barking, I went in and examined the dead body by tilting the head of the body. Noticing the nail marks to the left of his right ear, I frowned and stood up.
"Hari, order for the autopsy. I need the results within an hour. Also, notify the commissioner about this thing." I told him as he went around to do what I had said.
"Looks like the rat is getting so impatient to come out." I mumbled myself with a smile and moved ahead to get into my jeep.
"Indra, you madman. Stop where you are. Who are you to order around while standing in my territory? Moreover, why the hell do you even need the autopsy. Hand over the body to me. It's just a suicidal case. Why are you making a hill out of the mole?" He was trying to justify but shrank his shoulders a little when I turned back and stood in front of him.
"Has someone asked you to weave this tale?" I asked him while shooting a hard glare in his way.
"N-no. I am in this profession for more years than you? Can't I even identify suicidal cases within a second?"
"Oh. Is it? Then I must blame your intelligence. Go and get a proper treatment. Also don't shout like a dog, claiming that it's your territory. As long as it's something related to the things I deal with, territories don't matter to me." I told him calmly and turned around to move forward.
"Don't you fear the consequences? You shouldn't interfere in the zone that's not yours." He glared at me.
"Then you may not know it, I don't bother with the rules. For me, it's right or wrong. As you have said, I am a madman. So you better not come in my way."
Saying this, I wore my shades back and drove to the station. Then I asked my team to gather all the movements of the deceased from the past few days.
I switched off my mobile and started working on the counter actions for the sudden turn of the events as the autopsy reports were also out, strengthening my assumption of it being a murder.
As we all have worked hard till evening without even having lunch, everyone was pretty tired out. Noticing this, I asked everyone to take a break. As they left, I lit up the cigarette and held it in between my fingers while switching on my mobile.
I was startled a little, witnessing so many missed calls from Aarna. Worrying that something might have happened to her, I stubbed out the cigarette in my hand and called her back.
" Are you doing well?" I frowned at her unusual question.
"Yes?" I sounded unsure, of what kind of weird reply she would give in return.
"Woah. Are you really doing well? I thought you are about to fall into the streets."
"Will you speak properly or I will end the call.!" I sounded stern as I heard her scoffing from the other end.
"End the call and see the consequences. To be frank, are you even a man? I only thought you are stingy enough to not give me the ice cream treats but what I have never expected is, you are so stingy enough to let your wife starve! Such a great husband you are. I am so speechless. Don't go around and say that you are my elder brother." She kept on ranting as I was unable to catch a single thing.
"Aarna, I am telling you for the last time. Come to the point or I will seriously end the call..no no. I will block your number and hell with those damn consequences. Now, will you come to the point?"
"Hmph. Then listen. Your wife fainted this morning. In diagnosis, it's found out that she was so weak. All was because of her irregular food intake. I know about my Yuki baby, she won't skip her meals at any time as she is a health freak. So as a husband, what the hell are you doing? You should take the proper care of her..right? And what about the old lady of the house? I would have blasted her ears if it's not for my Yuki baby asking me to not let anyone know about it!" I heard her gasping for air before she started shouting again.
"She even asked me to not inform you but how can I do that? I trusted you with my akka. I gave her hand to you, thinking that you are so mature and responsible but thinking of it, even I took good care of her. Moreover where the hell are you? I was trying to reach out to you since morning. You should dump your stupid phone into something. It's of no use. Baah. Let it be. My lungs are hurting in anger whenever I thought of you. Go now. At least go and take her home. She is at her mom's place and please grow up. I can't always be there to guide you."
As she ended the call after lecturing me like a jaded mother, I started recalling her words and then it struck me as to what she was talking about.
"Damn!" Cussing under my breath, I grabbed my jeep keys and hurried out.
Getting into the car, I started driving to her mom's place furiously. All the way, the only thing in my head was to make sure with my eyes that she was doing fine.
As I reached her mom's place, I parked the jeep and rushed in and when I was about to step in, I heard the chattering of the mom and daughter duo. I stopped at the main door, looking at her smiling so brightly at something that her mom has said. How long has it been since I saw her genuine smile?
"Eat slowly, Ammu or you will choke yourself." Just as she completed her sentence, yuktha started coughing, clearly choked herself in between as her mom handed her the water which she drank so hurriedly.
"What's the hurry? Why are you eating like you have been starving for days?" Hearing her mom's question, I saw her stiffening up and looked at her mom with teary eyes.
"It's been so long since I had a prop-" she stopped herself from what she was saying and took a deep breath.
"Arey mom, it's been so long since I had your handmade food. So how could I possibly have it so coolly? Moreover, I have back-to-back emergency cases today. I never really got time to have a proper meal. You know na, I hate eating outside food. So after my shift ends, I came here to hitch a free meal."
She pretended to sound cheery as her mom laughed at her words but all I was feeling is, numbing pain in my heart when witnessing her pretending to be all fine.
"Ammu, stop that habit of yours. You should at least have food from outside in case of emergencies. There are so many decent restaurants out there. So don't starve yourself and it's not like every day, you will get a chance to have a homemade meal." Aunty told her and now I understood she was lying to mom, about having food in her canteen.
"Yes. I learnt about that thing recently only." She replied, more like replying to the last sentence of her mom as I fisted my hands, angry at myself for not noticing it till now. She was practically living so cautiously in that house, so as to not bother anyone. Damn!
"Have your food. I will get you some juice." As she was about to stand up, yuktha held her hand and stopped her.
"No. Stay with me."
"Are you okay, Ammu?"
"Yes ma. What will happen to me? I am completely alright. Just sit with me and talk. I really miss you." She said in a low tone while bending her head.
Aunty lifted her head and looked into her eyes.
"Ammu, tell me, are you really happy there?"
Was she really happy? I questioned myself, looking at her for her response.
Thanks for reading.
Please do vote and comment.